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// Will Hodgkinson
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The Ballad of Britain
A metal chair flies through the air and finds its target: writer Will Hodgkinson was fast discovering the perils of trying to make a field recording of local troubadour Pete Molinari in Kent’s tougher suburbs. On a quest to find the sonic soul of a nation, Hodgkinson set out on an eventful road trip across Britain armed with a portable digital recording device and relentless curiosity. Documenting the journey, The Ballad of Britain seeks a 2009 answer to the question ‘what is British music?’ In 1903 folksong collector Cecil Sharp had a similar calling and was one of the initial inspirations for this book…but he definitely didn’t make it to Chatham.
Travelling to remote communities and into major cities (in a decrepit Vauxhall Astra), Hodgkinson meets a hugely diverse range of artists, including folk’s first family The Watersons, Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley in Sheffield, students from the Brit school, Gruff Rhys in Wales, bonafide hippies, grime producers and suburban chroniclers. And in fields, kitchens and car parks he makes a fascinating collection of intimate and unique recordings, a selection of which are available on the accompanying CD released by Heron.
Sometimes he is tracking down singers of traditional songs - ancient ballads passed down orally, and still connecting communities. As Scottish Traveller Stanley Robertson explains: “when you sing a ballad you’re nay on your own. You’re singing with a tribe. You’re a villain, you’re a wronged woman, you’re a wee boy with a letter, you’re everyone”. But Hodgkinson is also seeking something perhaps even more elusive than the survival of particular melodies or lyrics: “I didn’t set out to write a definitive study of British folk music today” he says, “I was interested in how music captures identity and place.” Whether it’s the bucolic Cornish psychedelia of The Rosemarie Band or odes to Peckham by The Boycott Coca-Cola Experience, he does find some extraordinary individuals out there making music deeply connected to their location, often with a free-wheeling eccentricity which he clearly relishes.
Beyond the hard-core fans, there’s long been a sense of embarrassment in Britain about our folk music. “You could never imagine morris dancing becoming a cool combat-dance sensation here like capoeira is in Brazil”, notes Will. But with activists like Sam Lee reviving ancient songs and promoters like The Magpie’s Nest shaking up notions of folk for a new generation, things are on the move.
At the heart of folk music is the impulse to make music for the love of it, regardless of commercial intent. In 2009, was that spirit still intact? They’re not all making traditional music in the strict sense, but judging by the many pockets of intense local creativity that Hodgkinson discovers, that spirit is alive and kicking. In Fife, he meets the Fence Collective who run a DIY operation creating, performing and releasing music. They actively encourage others to get out there and do their own thing. It’s not that they necessarily shun success (Fence founder King Creosote and James Yorkston are both signed to Domino) just that their music-making genuinely remains an end in itself. Living and writing in the village, playing in the local pub, where all the regulars sing along, the songs are definitely of the people, which may be the happiest definition of folk music.
Hodgkinson sees the musical soul of Britain as the multi-layered soundtrack made by all of us. A coach-load of kids singing ‘The Yellow Submarine’ and bar-room karaoke are the sounds of our popular heritage as much as a 15th century sea shanty. The Ballad of Britain is a humourous and enlightening read, and there’s a palpable sense that this was a real journey of discovery for the author who, apart from the fact he often ends up sleeping on their sofas, experiences his interviews with the artists as very personal encounters. “Before this trip I think I saw Britain as rather dreary and dowdy” says Will “but I found it’s actually incredibly mysterious and exotic.”
The Ballad of Britain – How Music Captured The Soul Of A Nation by Will Hodgkinson is published by Portico.
The limited edition CD
The Ballad of Britain is out 14 Sept on Heron.
The Ballad Of Britain Concert - 22 October 2009
Cecil Sharp House, London NW1 - www.efdss.org
featuring Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Gruff Rhys, Sam Lee, Stephanie Hladowski
www.theballadofbritain.com
www.myspace.com/theballadofbritain
Jody Gillett
(4 votes)
book britain folk
// ALSO
- Separado!
- Nobody, "Jerusalem"
- 80s World Music Classics
- Darbar Festival, Darbar | Arts Culture Heritage – Book
- New Awards for World Music
- Joe Bataan & James Pants live at Cargo 11 June plus dates in Leeds and Birmingham
- Black Music Centre
- Oliver Mtukudzi, Oliver Mtukudzi - African Soul Rebel
- Andrés 'El Jíbaro' Jiménez, Andrés 'El Jíbaro' Jiménez - Puerto Rico's folk music icon
// ALL WILL HODGKINSON'S REVIEWS
The Ballad of Britain
10/09/2009
// BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Ballad of Britain (Book)
Portico -2009
>> Read review
// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> Gruff Rhys
REPORTS
// CONTACT
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